%expand(%include(D:\http/ads/ads0.html))
Low Dose Estrogen May Help Men's Hearts
By UPI
Contributed by Maiki
Atlanta
March 31, 1998
Estrogen, a hormone normally
associated with protecting women's hearts, may help men's hearts as well.
Researchers say that when elderly men are given low
doses of estrogen their bad cholesterol decreases, their good cholesterol
increases and other risk factors improve - without serious, long-lasting or
unpleasant side effects.
Dr. Satyendra Giri, a fellow in cardiology at the
University of Connecticut, says the study was prompted by research which
shows estrogen replacement therapy reduces heart risk among post-menopausal
woman. He wondered if similar effects could occur with men.
Studies in the 1970s had mixed results in the use of
estrogen supplements in men. Many of the men taking high doses had bad side
effects. But Giri says a small group of patients in those studies did seem
to benefit with from lower doses of estrogen without the side effects.
Now, 20 years later, he says he is investigating low
dose estrogen to determine just what the hormone can do for men's hearts. He
gave oral doses of estrogen to 22 healthy, elderly men whose average age was
74, and then tracked changes in risk factors in the blood and side effects.
He found:
_HDL or ''good'' cholesterol, which protects against
heart disease, increased 14 percent.
_LDL or ''bad'' cholesterol, which increases risk of
heart attack, decreased 6 percent.
_Homocysteine, an independent risk factor for heart
disease, decreased 11 percent.
_Fibrinogen, a substance which promotes the
production of blood clots that can cause heart attacks, decreased 12
percent.
_PLA-1, another protein associated with clot
development, decreased 26 percent.
_Four of 22 men suffered breast tenderness; five of
the 22 reported heartburn, but these side effects were transient and didn't
force the men out of the trial.
Dr. Paul Thompson, director of preventive cardiology
at Hartford Hospital, says, ''We hope the study will encourage
pharmaceutical companies to try and develop estrogen products for men that
don't have side effects.''
Giri says the study is preliminary, so
recommendations for estrogen use by men would not be appropriate based on
the trial.
However, he says, ''The lower doses tested _ less
than one milligram a day _ seem to be as effective as the two milligram
doses in reducing some of these heart disease risk factors.''
|